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Bengaluru commuters lost nearly a full working week to rush-hour traffic in 2025, as the city ranked second among the world’s most congested cities — behind only Mexico City — according to the latest mobility data from Dutch location technology firm TomTom.
The city recorded an average congestion level of 74.4 per cent, with commuters taking 15 minutes to travel 4.2 kilometres during peak hours, at an average speed of 16.6 km per hour. This translated into an annual loss of 168 hours per commuter to traffic, according to the TomTom Traffic Index 2025.
The index evaluates cities worldwide based on average travel time, congestion levels and vehicle speeds. The rankings draw on global trip data covering more than 3.65 trillion kilometres travelled. The index is widely used to track changes in urban mobility and compare congestion trends across regions and countries.
TomTom’s ‘slowest cities’ ranking is based on travel time per km and focus on the actual, often low, speed of travel, while congestion measures the relative delay against a free-flow baseline, which can be affected by infrastructure, speed limits, and urban design.
The data indicates that Bengaluru’s mobility crisis has deepened over the past year. In 2024, the average rush-hour speed stood at 18kmph, dropping to 16.6kmph in 2025, highlighting a steady deterioration in traffic conditions.
The findings underline the growing strain on the city’s road network amid rising vehicle numbers and limited expansion of public transport capacity.
Bengaluru and Kolkata were both listed among the world’s five slowest cities. According to the global index, Bengaluru ranked third for slowest travel times, followed by Kolkata at fourth place. Barranquilla in Colombia and London in the United Kingdom topped the list.
The index also showed that Pune overtook Mumbai to become the fifth most congested city globally, with commuters losing 152 hours a year to traffic delays. Mumbai, meanwhile, saw a marginal improvement, with annual time lost to congestion falling to 126 hours.
New Delhi ranked 23rd on the index. Other Indian cities included Jaipur, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ernakulam and Ahmedabad.
Overall, India emerged as the fifth most congested country globally and the second most congested in Asia, after the Philippines.
In 2025, Down To Earth and the Centre for Science and Environment released a series of reports titled How India Moves, examining congestion in 50 cities and towns across the country. The analysis highlighted a strong link between mobility patterns and air quality, finding that travel times had doubled in many cities and that roads remained gridlocked well beyond the “peak” hours.
The TomTom data also reflected a broader global shift in commuting behaviour in 2025. The traditional morning peak between 7 am and 9 am became more dispersed, with lighter congestion between 7 am and 8 am and traffic extending into the late morning.
Midday and early afternoon traffic between 11am and 3pm rose noticeably compared with 2019, suggesting an increase in flexible work schedules, hybrid employment and daytime errands.
Evening travel patterns shifted more sharply. Instead of a distinct 5pm peak, congestion began building from as early as 3pm and remained high until around 6pm, resulting in slower evening speeds despite a flatter peak.